Perfect proofreading: part two
LAST WEEK I uploaded a post containing my first five tips for perfect proofreading. It really is possible to publish and print great content if you take the time to look for the most common errors. Here are my final five tips for achieving this. 6 – Look for inconsistency. Have you used capital letters throughout […]
Perfect proofreading: part one
HAVE YOU EVER looked back at work you’ve done and wondered just how it ended up with so many mistakes in it? Do you always discover these errors when it’s too late, and you’ve already sent out your customer email or sent your leaflet to be printed 5,000 times? If this is the case, then […]
Youth: my hope lies beyond the headlines
THIS IS A blog post I attempted to post in January 2014, but the computer network crashed and it didn’t upload. I post it now, as I believe the general thrust of the argument I make still holds true in May. And there’s bound to be another news story around the corner than reinforces my […]
Word play: envisaged or envisioned?
What can of worms have I opened with use of ‘envisaged’ versus ‘envision’ I wonder? Probably a debate over whether it’s best to UK English or American English! That’s because ‘envisage’ and ‘envision’ technically mean the same thing: to visualise something or make a mental picture of it. A future possibility if you will. Your […]
Why I’ve gone off newspapers, part two: balance
IN THE MAINSTREAM media there seems to be a trend towards scaremongering for an optimum number of clicks or sales. You may recall my earlier blog about the power of emotive language to frighten and depress us in newspapers. This post builds on that notion with a specific case study: coverage of Brazil ahead of […]
Word play: Circumvented or circumnavigated?
TWO WORDS THAT may get inadvertently mixed up are ‘circumvented’ and ‘circumnavigated’. Here is an example of misuse: ‘There was a business deal on the table with some tricky elements, but we managed to circumnavigate those to get what we wanted’. It is easy to see why the writer has chosen ‘circumnavigate’ by mistake instead of […]
Word blankness can last 25 years!
IT’S QUITE COMMON, when you read ‘below the line’ comments on news media websites, to find a slew of criticism and contempt for the journalists (usually the sub editors), who have let slip a few typos and grammatical errors in their work. Of course, journalists ought to be committed to accuracy in their work, but […]
Spelling explained: adviser or advisor?
One word that commonly causes spelling confusion is adviser. Or should that be advisor? Is one variant more common, or more correct, than the other? Let’s investigate… According to the New Penguin English Dictionary: “adviser or advisor, noun: somebody who gives advice, esp professionally in specialised field” Note that the spelling ‘adviser’ is listed first; […]
Why I’ve gone off Newspapers: Part One
I CAN REMEMBER very clearly when I first decided I wanted to be a journalist. I was twelve, and overjoyed at the thought it might be possible to write for my local paper and get paid for it. Until then, I’d spent my rainy holidays composing my own ‘stories’ about fictitious school children and their […]
GCSE results fiasco shows why these exams need an overhaul
NOT FOR THE first time since the summer, GCSE grading has hit the headlines. After recording the first dip in results since the examinations were introduced in the late 80s, it emerged some exam boards took the decision to mark down English grades due to “significant overmarking” of certain elements of the course. This has […]